Regardless of different mediums, email remains one of the most effective and affordable ways to move customers toward making a purchase and getting the best return on investment.
If you want to boost your sales, rethinking your email marketing strategy is a great start. Here are some key techniques that will help you build a sales magnet for your email campaign.
1.Use email marketing automation tools
Automation has been around for some time now. If you didn’t get a chance to automate your email marketing campaign, now is the perfect time.
Research shows that 75% of marketers use some form of marketing automation tools. Moreover, automated emails prove to have a 17.27% higher click-through rate than regular emails. Klaviyo is an excellent email automation tool, there are numerous other alternatives to Klaviyo available that you can utilize.
Mapping customer experience and personalizing email elements prove to be the most effective automatization methods. Besides, you can use automation to do the following:
- Create drip campaigns
- Test subject lines
- Schedule follow-ups and reminders
- Gather customer feedback
- Set up email funnels
Email automation is an essential part of every email marketing campaign, but it doesn’t mean you should rely on it to do all the work. It shouldn’t be replacing you in pursuit of creating effective and unique email pieces. You can also use Small Business CRM Software to increase productivity.
2. Share explainer videos and tutorials
No marketing medium can communicate your message as effectively and quickly as video content. That’s why it’s important to use videos as a part of your email marketing efforts.
Video marketing has the potential to help educate your customers, build awareness, and increase conversions. In fact, studies suggest that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands. While 87% of marketers use videos of some form as their marketing tool.
So, how do you create a successful video marketing campaign? The answer is by following these tips.
- Get right to the point! Your videos must be interesting and short enough to get subscribers’ attention.
- Host your videos on major platforms, like YouTube or Vimeo, for more social sharing and visibility. Embed videos from platforms into your email with a direct link to the video.
- Always A/B test your videos before making them live.
- Use the word “video” in your subject line as it proves to increase the open rate by 19%.
- Keep your videos clear and actionable. Make sure to include CTAs to encourage subscribers to act.
3. Personalize your content
Nothing kills conversions and sales as much as lack of personalization. If you want to achieve sales over fulfillment, personalization is paramount. Rather than sending the very same emails to all subscribers, use email automation tools to add personalized elements.
It all begins with a subject line
Did you know that emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened? Therefore, adding the recipient’s name to the subject line will prompt them to open your email and complete the desired CTA.
Greeting is another important element that has to be personalized. Start your email with the recipient’s name and make sure to drop salutations. Instead, you can use something like “Anna, hello from sunny California” to grab their attention right away.
4. Make your brand central
Keeping your brand in front is always a good idea. When sending out your emails, make sure that your recipients know who is the sender.
Mentioning your company’s name is a great way to ensure brand exposure even when your email hasn’t been opened. Use your logo, slogan, and company name consistently throughout your emails to make sure your recipients know who’s emailing them.
5. Use UGC to your advantage
User-generated content (UGC) refers to any type of brand-related content (images, videos, posts, etc.) created by your audience members. Besides images and videos, UGC also includes customer testimonials and reviews.
User-generated content proves to increase trust and inspire customers’ buying decisions. Indeed, 82% of customers consider user-generated reviews extremely valuable.
Sharing customer reviews and testimonials via email is a great way to encourage your recipients to buy your products. Seeing that someone else is enjoying the product builds trust and prompts people to buy more.
How to use this principle in your email marketing? For example, instead of writing a copy that explains the benefits of your product, share (preferably visuals like images, infographics and more) content created by satisfied customers.
6. Focus on quality over quantity
Roughly 307 billion emails are sent every day, and this number is expected to reach 347 billion by 2023! Considering stats, it’s not surprising that subscribers are demanding email content that’s more accessible and well crafted.
Always place the quality of your content over the quantity. Instead of sending tons of promotional emails, aim to add value to your content.
The “less is more” principle works perfectly with email marketing. You want to send out email copies that are easy for recipients to digest yet informative enough to educate their buying decisions.
Always clarify what’s in it for your subscribers. Rather than describing the characteristics of your product, tell (or even show) what your to-be customers gain from using the product.
7. A/B test your emails
Launching a sales-prompting email campaign is never easy. Sometimes, even the most research-based and carefully crafted emails simply don’t work.
The best way to identify which content works best for your subscribers is by sending out two unique email copies to different halves of your audience. This method is called A/B testing (a.k.a. split testing), and it allows you to compare and evaluate which email elements perform better.
When is the best time to A/B test your email campaign? According to Forbes “The best answer is always. The more realistic answer is whenever you can.” It’s especially important to A/B test your email efforts when you change existing email elements or launch a brand new email campaign.
8. Speak to the recipients’ pain points
Addressing your subscribers’ pain points is another email marketing technique to boost your sales. If you want your brand to stand out from the competition, you must understand and address the challenges your audience faces.
Use email to provide timely communication to help your customers’ pain points. For example, if your data suggests that your audience is struggling with budget planning, send out emails with strategies and tips to ease the budgeting process.
9. Ensure mobile experiences
Did you know that 42% of emails are viewed either on smartphones or tablets? As such, you want to make sure you can address almost half of your customers who access your emails exclusively through mobile devices.
All of your emails must have a responsive design. This means that no matter the device your subscribers use, your emails’ elements should automatically adjust themself to fit into the screen.
Mobile experiences are key to increasing conversions and sales. Make sure your customers have a chance to access your email content on the go from their mobile devices and from the screens of the laptops.
10. Customize the sender name
Sending emails from a general inbox can negatively influence your open rate and conversions. That’s why you want to send out promotional copies from the emails of the real team members.
Use the name of a team member (like your CEO) who your subscribers can recognize. This will make your email copy more personalized and increase the chances that your emails will be opened.
11. Implement persuasion techniques
Did you know that people are psychologically more predisposed to hearing certain kinds of messages? As such, understanding human psychology is paramount to improving your email marketing efforts and achieving sales plan over fulfillment.
Here are some of the most effective persuasion techniques and principles you can implement into your email strategy.
Storytelling
Stories have been a part of human culture for thousands of years. Our evolutionary desire to hear stories reflects the basic need to understand and explore patterns of life. When people hear an interesting story, their attention tends to shift, they memorize and recall more information. Telling your brand’s story can have the very same result on your email subscribers.
When it comes to storytelling, the quality of your writing is everything. If you’re struggling to create well-written copies, use the help of a professional article writer to ensure the high quality of your brand story.
Simple solutions
Simple solutions is a persuasion technique that implies offering relatively simple solutions to more complex problems. You can observe this principle throughout many advertising campaigns when marketers offer a magic product that will make all of your problems disappear.
This principle works because people want to avoid problems that cause anxiety. By offering an easy solution, you’re not actually solving the problem. Rather, you offer relief from anxiety your customers are avoiding feeling.
A foot-in-the-door technique
A foot-in-the-door technique is a well-known compliance tactic typically used in sales. Here’s how it works. First, you ask your subscribers to complete a small action (like to vote on which product they prefer better). Then, you start gradually making more demanding requests until a person agrees to complete the intended large request (like making a purchase).
Bribery
Bribery is another persuasion technique based on the idea of offering a little bit of something extra in return for a favor. Special offers, discounts, saving programs, coupons, and contests are all based on the idea of bribing customers to make a purchase.
Send fewer emails
Sending fewer emails is the final marketing technique closing our list. While it may sound unreasonable, studies show that 43% of subscribers wish companies emailed them less frequently.
Did you know that on average 54% of emails we receive are promotional? Receiving too many promotional emails is the primary reason customers unsubscribe from mailing lists. You can solve the opt-out problem by giving your subscribers some space.
Allow your recipients the option of taking a break from your email subscription. This way, you’ll retain subscribers (as they won’t unsubscribe from your mailing list) and give them the space they need.
Wrap up
Your subscribers want to see value in your emails. All of these tactics, from sharing videos to sending fewer emails, are focused on offering viable solutions and value to your subscribers.
Regular testing is another integral part that will help you identify what your target audience gravitates towards.
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